Not the Panda Cam!

[randomness]

The Panda Cam scene on Monday
(frame capture by the Wall Street Journal from the Zoo's feed)
The WSJ's Washington Wire reports Washington in Uproar Over Panda Cam Threat:

Washingtonians have remained stoic, even dismissive of news that a government shutdown could halt garbage pickup, street cleaning, and pothole-repair come Tuesday. But when the National Zoo announced Monday that continued congressional impasse would shutter the zoo and its Panda Cam, fans’ sole window onto the zoo’s newborn cub, fans traveled the stages of grief, from rage to bargaining and grim acceptance.

...

Panda Cam draws thousands of visitors each day inside the den of a female cub born Aug. 23 and its mother, Mei Xiang; traffic grew so heavy the zoo had to limit viewing time to 15 minutes. Virtual zoogoers appear willing to live without the Naked Mole-Rat cam for a time, but “PLEASE don’t let me suffer even one day without the Panda Cam!!!” Drew Winner wrote on the zoo’s Facebook page. “If Congress knew they were risking the shut down of the Panda Cam if a resolution wasn’t passed, I think things would be moving a LOT faster!”

...

As the bad Panda Cam news went viral, visitors begged the zoo to provide another online channel for news of their beloved cub. But zoo admnistrators dashed even those feeble hopes with a Tweet Monday afternoon: “We will not tweet or post to Facebook during a #shutdown, except in the case of emergencies.”

Wall Street Journal or The Onion?

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

The bureaucrats start to play hardball with the politicians...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I should not be amused, however mordantly.

[fin9901.livejournal.com]

The PandaCam is stil up:

"Sponsored by Ford Motor Company Fund"

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

first i was sad that the panda cam could be down. then i was appalled that i was sad about the panda cam in the face of everything else. then i was REALLY appalled that Ford stepped in to sponsor the Panda cam.

of course, also kind of happy the pandas are back online.

[gee-tar.livejournal.com]

I originally asked this as a comment in a friend's Facebook page, but I think he thought I was only joking: what is the marginal cost of operating the panda-cam? I thought it's just a camera, but does it actually have operators? If so, then I can see why it was shut down, but if not, can it really cost more than a couple cents a day in electricity? Can't they just leave the switch on and keep it working until it fails on its own for whatever reason?